(Yicai Global) Nov. 3 -- Chinese property industry, which used to offer good salaries, has entered a spiral of layoffs, pay cuts, and deferrals amid the debt-laden sector's downturn, according to insiders.

Several property developers have recently launched a new round of salary cuts and layoffs, a senior industry insider who has worked for several leading developers told Yicai Global. For example, one developer is planning to reduce nearly 50 percent of its workers by integrating different departments in a swipe that affects almost every department, the person added.

During the peak period, it was normal for a regional general manager to earn more than CNY10 million (USD1.4 million) per year, and director-level executives generally made CNY1 million (USD136,917), but most of the remunerations have been reduced by half, the same source said.

Before the pay hike cycle ended in 2019 amid slowing sales, most Chinese developers were fattening their workers' wallets due to a talent shortage amid rapid expansion. Salaries of a sample size of 134 listed developers totaled CNY157.4 billion (USD21.5 billion) in 2017, up 27 percent from 2016, according to statistics from a research institution.

But the promotion party has stopped as nearly 60 percent of workers in the sector reported unchanged salaries last year, and 22 percent of polled employees said their pay has even been cut, according to survey findings of job search platform Zhaopin.

A mid-level manager at one of the country's top 15 developers told Yicai Global that his salary had been trimmed twice in 2022 to about half of that of early this year. "The initial salary cuts were only applied to management, but now every employee has experienced that."

A regional mid-level manager at an eastern Chinese property company with annual sales of CNY200 billion (USD27.4 billion) said that he had not been paid for a while due to the firm's debt crisis since the second half. "The regional unit has to find capital to pay its salaries, as the headquarters will not supply the funds."

Another developer which used to rank in the top 10 is also cutting pay and laying off employees. The severance policy is even worse than it was late last year as compensations have been lowered and payments delayed, an employee who recently received a layoff notice said. But most dismissed employees accept this, given worries about the situation getting even worse later, the person added.

The real estate sector is shrinking as after the Chinese New Year holiday early this year, the number of vacancies declined by 29 percent from a year earlier, showing a bigger trend of contraction than any other industry, based on data from Zhaopin.

Meanwhile, the sector has lost its allure of higher pay. In the fourth quarter of last year, the average salary for new recruits was CNY10,394 (USD1,423), only slightly higher than the average of CNY10,111 across different industries, based on the survey results.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi